Quilting on the Edge

Tuesday's Ten: Collections

Today I'm going to write about things I've collected at one time or another.  What is it about collecting?  the need to have a lot of something?  Or does it express a certain unfilled need to have a lot of something we once were unable to have?  Or does it mean nothing other than that we simply really like something and we want to have more than one of that thing.

Most of us have probably collected something at one time or another since we were kids, and maybe even continue to this day.  I know of people who have basket collections for example.  Here's my list:

Seashells........I can't resist picking up  shells from the shore.  My favorites are sand dollars and shark's eye.

Handmade folk dolls.......I did this years ago, but stopped.  I have about ten waiting for my first granddaughter.

Small glass bottles, especially old ones.  I have a nice collection of blue glass bottles.  I can tell you where I got most of them.

Books......of the inspirational type.  I didn't consider it a collection, until I realized I buy them regularly and never get rid of them.

Quilts, of course.  What else to call all those quilts I've made, of many sizes, sitting around in cupboards and bins?  Sometimes I do give them away.  That's the fun part.

Santas...........the folk art kind.  I don't collect them any longer, but I have a pretty nice grouping I put out at Christmas.

Greeting cards..........the special ones I've been sent, even some homemade ones when the kids were young.  I do look at them occasionally and they always take me back to that special time.

Inspirational photos for my art quilts........I'm always taking pictures when we're out, and store them in a file on my computer called  Photos for Inspiration.   Does this count as a collection?

Comic books.....when I was a kid.  I liked Archie comics, Little Lulu, and Nancy and Sluggo.  Have no idea what happened to them.

Memories....don't we all?   They don't take up any room, they're easy to access, and you can enjoy them anywhere anytime.  This may be my favorite collection.

Think about your collections today and maybe remember something you used to collect and maybe you'd like to do it again!

 

Update on New Project begun July 5th: TREES

I'm beginning to make progress again on my art quilt.  I noticed that in the past twenty fours hours whenever I glanced or stared at my piece so far, I kept thinking about cutting it.  I am not against cutting up a piece of my work in progress at all.....I've done it before, and the new pieces often give new ideas.  I couldn't see clearly yet though how I would cut this piece, so first I went to the computer to play around with the photo I had taken of this quilt. I went to Photoshop and begin cropping sections so I could see if there were any ideas from cropping.  I finally decided to crop out the large tree section, and that was appealing.

Then I begin to play around with various ways to alter the color......I altered the hue and saturation many ways, brightness and contrast, and even tried a few of the filters to change the appearance of the cropped tree section.  I became excited now..........the changes I was seeing brought me focus and I arrived at the message for this quilt.

My art quilt would reflect the changes in the forest that would happen when artists above emptied their paints to earth......the forest would erupt in a splash of color. I'm thrilled that I have a focus.......and I love the idea.  So, I got busy.

I altered the tree photo six different ways and transferred these new pictures to fabric........I used different fabrics as the surface for the transfer.  I cut an 8 1/2 by 11 inch piece of the fabric, ironed it to the same size piece of freezer paper, which would allow me to run the fabric through the printer.   Here are resulting images:

This is typical of how the image appears on fabric with my printer.

 

You can tell that some of the fabric has a print on them, some are plain.  After I placed them on my design wall, I decided to improve the colors of the tree itself by coloring over them with my watercolor pencil.  This resulted in the images being more pronounced as you can see in the following image.

Much more to my liking.  What's next?  More cutting?  maybe.  Will I use  the original quilt in my piece? Maybe.  Now I am excited though about the next step, whatever it will be, because now I have a theme, focus, and idea for my work.   My working title is "Paintbrush Forest"........that may change of course, but here's where we are as of right now.  Stay tuned!

Friday: My Final Answer July 10. 2009

Another week gone, a few new lessons and some not so new ones that I still have to learn:

Rain on a summer holiday is not conducive to celebrating.

It's a good feeling to be among like minded people at one of the Tea Parties held on Independence Day.........and the signs were great!

Sometimes things can be said over the telephone that leave a person pondering about them for several days later. Maybe forever.

It is always difficult to help people who don't want to help themselves.

A new paint job can be just the ticket to improve a space.

Picking out floor tile is easier with limited choices.

Problems that resurface again and again may never be solvable, and it would be wise to just accept that fact if you can. If you can't, keep trying.

I would miss not having good friends looking out for me.

A little known fact about me is.................I don't drink soft drinks at all anymore.  It's water, decaf coffee or tea, orange juice in the morning, and wine.  If I must have a soft drink due to the circumstances, I am amazed at how sweet and syrupy they are and can hardly stand them!

Have a great weekend..............

 

 

 

 

Update on New Art Quilt Project

I am sorry to say I have no new pictures.........but that doesn't mean I haven't been working.  I've had people sitting by the tree, others running through the woods, and new trees and other abstract additions.  Nothing sings to me.  I think I figured it out though.....I mean why nothing sings to me.  I haven't yet discovered the message of this piece.  Without knowing what I'm trying to convey, I cannot find the way to convey it.   I can make a pretty piece, but not one I find is an extension of myself.  So I wait.  I do this often in my work.......I cannot force the piece, it has to come from me with the hands of someone who knows where she's taking this expression. This is the frustrating part of creation, at least for me.  The waiting. But the  joy will be great when I do find the message  and proceed quickly to the execution.  In the meantime, if you're following the process, you'll have to wait too.   But this is the way it really works, at least for me. My work in progress is present on my design wall where I can see it as I do other work.  In my case, the muse cannot be rushed, and in fact, acts up when rushed and shuts all the doors and windows.  I'm waiting for those doors and windows to open. Stay tuned.

Update on New Project from July 5th Post

Here's what's going on with my latest project.  This is the layout I designed to use the fabrics that I previously bleached as mentioned in the July 5th post.  I also added another brighter value of a medium orange shade of fabric that I dyed previously.  I needed some lighter areas on the quilt.......so I think this other fabric achieved that effect for me.   After looking at this on my design wall for a few days, I was ready to proceed........it's always a gamble.  I decided to stay with the leaf/weeds theme. 

The background is now sewn together in this photo, and I created  tree with branches with the dyed fusible interfacing I mentioned in the earlier post.

I just ironed the tree in place, it's very thin and once ironed gives very little bulk to the piece. 

The black lines are just lying on the background now......haven't decided yet if they will be added or not.  Also, you'll see three yellow interfacing rectangles that are not yet ironed in place, but waiting for my consideration. 

Here's my piece without the black long lines, which is sort of more appealing to me right now.  I love the tree as the focal point, I love the background, but it is definitely not finished.   I have not yet decided what to do next.......I'm thinking about adding silhouettes of people in some way,  or more trees of different colors, probably black or red-orange, or something I have yet to consider.  So far, I'm pleased.  It pays for me to leave it alone and look at it now and then until my muse says  "do this".  Sometimes it takes longer than other times for this to happen.  So far, the muse has not committed to any of my ideas.  Still searching...............

Tuesday's Ten: Taking Time

Here's an art quilt I call The Water Carrier.   This is one busy woman.....aren't we fortunate that most of us don't have to face that task everyday?  anyway, I've often thought about how busy my life has become with electronic devices.......iphones, computers, email....online groups.......and I'm retired!! Even I have to find time to do certain things that I need to do, or  things I want to do to maintain touch with myself.  Life can be a whirlwind that doesn't stop unless we stop it.  Today I'm listing ten things I believe would be healing activities to counteract the effects of too busy lives.

Taking a walk........or in some way, escaping the noise of everyday life.  Maybe it's ten minutes alone on the patio or deck without walking anywhere, that's fine too.   

Eating a meal without distraction.  A near impossible task for some I'm sure, but maybe, once in a while, you can swing it.  As a gift to yourself.  

Looking through your old photos..........a while ago, I read somewhere to keep a bunch of old photos loose in a decorative box or basket...and keep that box available in a favorite sitting spot. I've done this, and have often reviewed photos that I otherwise would not if they were neatly arranged in an album.  Memories!

Keep a book at the ready for reading at your imposed leisure time......

Create!!!!  anything........... a good meal, stationery, a pillow.......gets you out of this world and into your zone.

Challenge yourself to write one page in a journal at least once a week......who cares what you write?  it's only for your eyes.  Dump some of that stuff  you're mulling about onto the paper and leave it there and off your mind.  

Wander around a dollar store with no specific intention but to see what's there.  I recommend you do take a few dollars just in case.

Visit someplace you don't ordinarily visit.......maybe an area museum or exhibit, maybe a new section in the library.  This helps get us out of ruts.

Buy a magazine you have never in your life heard of before.........I love this one!  I have done this more than once when at the bookstore, and am always amazed at the escape it provides into a completely different world I knew nothing about.  My last choice was  a magazine for Graphic Designers, what a treat.  Step out of your regular life and see what others are thinking about.  This is one of my favorites.

Call a friend and start laughing like you used to........

Maybe you have some of your personal favorites.  The important thing is to do them,  even if you have to schedule a time on your phone or computer calendar.  Don't forget to program in the alert so your device will remind you it's time for yourself!!

 

 

Guest Blogger on Inspire Today

http://inspire.creative-textile-and-quilting-arts.com/adding-arty-fun-to-that-traditional-quilt/

Here's the link to check out my guest blog today on Inspire.  thanks for loooking!

My Latest Project Step 1

A LOOOOOOOOOOONG time ago I made this fabric with bleach.....on black fabric. I used leaves as a resist in the first photo, and toothpicks in the end pieces.  In the second photo, I remember using some thyme sprigs as the resist, then sprayed with bleach. I was clearly playing around that day. 

Yesterday, after looking through all my dyed, painted, and surface designed fabrics, these fabrics were the lucky winners of the chance to get out of the storage box and be used for an art quilt.   It is not unusual for me to make fabrics and then file them away for some later date.........right now I'm in the process of designing something.   So far, so good.  I'm making the background now, and then I noticed myself drifiting toward something else in my storage box.  I have about a half dozen pieces of fusible interfacing I recently spray dyed.......I've been wondering what to do with them. 

Nothing is in stone yet....but I'll post photos as I make some final decisions.     Stay tuned!

  

Studio Art Quilt Associates Benefit Auction September 10

Here's the link to see all the 12 inch square art quilts that will be up for auction on Sept. 19, 2009.

This is a photo of the piece I have donated for this event, called

Woodland Floor...........Check out all the others.......there are over 200 great pieces.

This is a reverse auction, the rules are explained on the link.  

http://www.saqa.com/hotnews.aspx?id=190

A Red Checkered Tablecloth Day

Today is the day to get out the red checkered tablecloth and have a picnic............and I like to remember these words:

My country, tis of thee

sweet land of liberty

of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers' died

Land of the pilgrims' pride

From every mountain side,  LET FREEDOM RING.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!